Monday, March 14, 2011

PJ Crowley insists

Philip J Crowley, former military intelligence office and spokesman for Hillary Clinton's department of State simply won'y go quietly.True to his code of ethics, he's standing tall by his condemnation of the treatment Bradley Manning is receiving in the navy's brig at Quantico, Va.'It's stupid and counterproductive and ridiculous'; it is affecting the way the world sees the US, he continued.'The world' does see what America's actions are: Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, Baghrum, and the use of secret prisons of US partners and allies. So although America has a short memory span, the world doesn't. Washington can tamper with its laws guaranteeing the rights of its citizens, but it cannot escape violating the Geneva Conventions and other international treaties, which has or refuses to sign.Contrary to the cheering leading optimism of the Obama administration, the US is on the decline. Not only did his precedessor George Bush bring the world to complete economic collapse, but the very institutions the US most values are showing signs of extreme stress and malfunction, bordering on a meltdown.The grasp of the levers of power--financial, political, and cultural--of Corporate America has the foul smell of 'fascism light'. Now, thanks to Corporate America's strawmen in office, private industry can take over the functions of government by the stroke of the pen. The fat cats soak up all the gravy and privileges and profits, whilst the little guy pays and pays through the nose.Yes, the world knows of what's going on in the US. The outrageous treatment of Bradley Manning is symptomatic of the totalitarian penchant of American democracy. 'Totalitarian democracy' is a term coined by Israeli historian J. L. Talmon to refer to a system of government in which lawfully elected representatives maintain the integrity of a nation state whose citizens, while granted the right to vote, have little or no participation in the decision-making process of the government. [Source: wordiq.com] Crowley's from the old school and has a strong sense of values and of himself. He may--from the standpoint of Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates and Barack Obama--spoken out of turn at a public forum at an elite American university, but he only said aloud what many others are whispering, out of fear for their livelihood, in the corridors of power.He may think Manning guilty as sin, but that's a matter for the courts. But, he spoke of Manning's right to humane treatment and respect for his person.